The USA is is edging closer to a new recession, according to many of the county's foremost economic experts. Speaking to Congress this week, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned that the US economy was "close to faltering."

Bernanke's outlook was echoed by experts at Goldman Sachs, who lowered their forecast for US growth in the first quarter of 2012 to just 0.5%. Speaking to Reuters, Andrew Tilton, an economist with the banking giants, cited the continuing debt crisis in Europe as a possible cause for a US slump.

Says Mr Tilton, "The European crisis threatens US economic growth via tighter financial conditions, reduced credit availability and weaker growth of US exports to the region. This impact is likely to slow the US economy to the edge of recession by early 2012."

With unemployment and poverty levels already at worrying levels (as reported by Re:locate last month), these latest trends will spark even greater concern across the Atlantic. Mr Bernanke appears to recognise such worries, stating that the Fed was "prepared to take further action as appropriate" to bolster the country's flagging economy.